BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.

Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service.

I'm Paul Henley and the programme's coming to you live from London.

First, the Taliban government in Afghanistan has consistently tried to free the country

of what it sees as some of the evils of modernity.

Those in charge see the internet as a conduit of immorality.

And in shutting it down yesterday, they succeeded in cutting off mobile phones,

canceling flights, halting online education and disrupting business.

The move has effectively cut Afghanistan off from the rest of the world for how long isn't known. In our efforts to

explore the effects of the shutdown, we've been unable to get through to anyone in Afghanistan on the

phone, not even on landlines. But as people got wind of an imminent cut-off,

my colleague Mahfuzubeda spoke to some in Afghanistan who talked about how previous internet outages in the provinces

had derailed their lives.

We voiced up some of what they had to say.

Education for women and girls over the age of 12

became covert and largely online when it was formally banned by the Taliban in 2021.

This young woman, Fahima, said she felt helpless now.

My two sisters and I were studying online.

We used to stay updated on news and technology through the internet.

But now we cannot keep up or learn new skills. We dreamed

of finishing our education and helping our father financially. But now we all sit at home doing nothing.

It's not just women and students that have been affected. Teachers like Zabi, who used to make a living

...